Unhappy with a bad review of your business? You can't just change it
Wednesday, 24 July 2019
The Commerce Commission is investigating multiple companies for altering or deleting negative online reviews.
Earlier this month, online accommodation booking company Bachcare was accused of allegedly manipulating online reviews posted by users.
Bachcare was charged with breaching the Fair Trading Act by removing negative comments and deleting reviews under 3.5 stars.
The commission said while this was the first time it had charged a company relating to altering or deleting negative reviews, it was unlikely to be the last.
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'We are currently investigating other companies in relation to how they are collecting, editing and publishing their online consumer reviews,' a commission spokesman said.
'More broadly, the commission is concerned about consumers potentially being misled by online reviews,' he said.
The commission recently published an infographic for businesses outlining what could and could not be done with online customer feedback.
Businesses were advised not to write, request or publish fake reviews and not to exclude reviews from unhappy customers.
'The key message is that customers must be given the true picture. Businesses may be breaking the law if they collect and, or present reviews in a way that misleads customers,' the spokesman said.
Online reviews have increasingly come under the spotlight.
Alexandra Sims, associate professor at University of Auckland's business school, said the current law worked but it was important the commission actively prosecuted the rule breakers.
'The benefit of the Fair Trading Act is that it's a principal based act, so it is broad. You don't want it to be too specific because when things come up, you can say, well, that falls outside of the rules,' Sims said.
'What would be useful is for guidance to be given, when is it acceptable to do something and when it is not.'
Sims said it was particularly important to ensure balance in the legislation as businesses also faced vindictive reviews from competitors.
'In general, the Commerce Commission goes after very few companies,' Sims said.
'It's good they are focusing on this but they need to prosecute more.'
She said punishing businesses that breached the rules helped other businesses who were staying within the law.
Fake or manipulated reviews are a detriment to other businesses, Sims said, as they lowered the level of trust among the public.